KAREN AND RAYS TRAVELS: 13 Last days of the new forest

Tuesday 31st August
It was a beautiful day - even the cat thought so...

Bugger off and leave me in peace

We started off by thinking “thank god we had not been at Notting Hill". Good luck to those of you that were. We on the other hand had a rare sunny day and Ray, complete with his trusty gadgets, again decided to sort out a route for us to travel by bike.

Ponys and donkeys run wild all over the place

I need very straight roads with lots of downhill, apparently that is not possible, (according to he, who must be believed and some computer nerd who developed these gadgets). (Ray -Why can't she understand that if you go uphill, you must eventually come down).

Karen is smiling - She has no idea whats coming

For all you fit youngsters reading this, it was probably an easy ride, (20K’s ) but for moi, learning how to do mountain biking standing up, going over lumps, bumps , tree trunks and every other form of non smooth road, it was really scary.

It took a while, but we finally managed to get rid of the look of abject fear on Karens face.

It is on days like this that I feel Ray is in fact Benjamin Button and is constantly regressing. I on the other hand, am ageing and would like to do so quietly and in one piece. Okay I lie slightly, but I would like to be dragged squeaking rather than screaming.


When I plan a ride, I plan it properly with appropriate rest stops.

All was forgiven though when we actually saw deer running through the forest and the ponies as well. There were times that we were totally alone and you could actually believe that there was no-one else on the planet, it was so quiet and peaceful, that it was really wonderful. We then finished off the day with a BBQ, it doesn’t get much more rustic than that.

Wednesday 1st September
We have sorted out our next site which is down near Weymouth. However , not content with doing just one thing today, we rode into Salisbury and visited the Cathedral.

Salisbury Cathederal - on a nice day

I will let Ray explain more, but I have to say it was an impressive site, and steeped in history, it is amazing how far back our records go.

Inside was just as impressive, there is a lit of military regalia hanging from the walls and an awfull lot of dead people under the floor.

In one small cloister was one of the original 1215AD copies of the Magna Carta. Unfortunately, photography was not allowed. We did see one old man taking one though and he got his bottom spanked by the staff.

We had a quick wander around the town and then nipped off to Stonehenge (as you do). I found the place, smaller than I had imagined. It has a powerful feel about it, but something was missing.
(Ray - Yeah, friends and beer)

We took the tour around it with the head sets, but what was really apparent is that nobody knows how, why, and really when, it all happened, or if there is really any real significance to it, I was quite saddened by it, it was too touristy and therefore lost some of its magic, but please don’t let my humble opinion spoil it for you, I think I just expected more.

We like this view

Weymouth

Thursday 2nd Sept.
We struck camp and whilst doing so I (Ray) got talking to the guy parked next to us named Tim Adams who is a Brit living in Australia and working as a tiler. He and his wife Heather are in the UK for 6 months holiday and are touring in their motorhome too. He was a damn nice chap and gave us an insight into motorcycling in Australia, New Zealand and Tazmania. He told us to pop in and se him when we hit Oz.

We then left for Weymouth and arrived there as about 1pm. It is only a small campsite with a maximum of 5 caravans or motohomes allowed but it is well isolated on a small farm in Osmington. The good thing about this site is that it is only 10 minutes walk to the sea and about 3 miles from Weymouth. On top of that, there is no-one else on the site - luverly.

We got our act together, set up the MH, awning etc and then set off towards the beach. As is our luck we missed the steps leading down the cliff face to the seas and eventually walked to the nearest edge of Weymouth looking for a way down to the beach. Whilst walking along what we now know to be the "South Coast Path" we was a Chinook helicopter (they realy are the sexiest things in the sky) flying along the coast in our direction.

These are so sexy and bring back a lot of fond memories

Then it got serious......

Missed us ya plonker....but only just

Many moons ago, a group of Army buddies and I were coming back from somewhere. The Chinook was flying with its tail ramp down, and me, being the cocky little shit that I am thought it would be cool so sit on the edge of the ramp with my legs dangling into mid air. After a while the loadmaster came up to me and shouted in my ear that I should put the a safety belt on and he hooked me to the aircraft with a strop. About 10 minutes later he came back and shouted in my ear again. He shouted that he needed the connecting strop for another purpose and would re connect it in a short while. Now, bear in mind that I am facing out the back at the ground and could not see that he disconneced one but without me knowing, connected another at the same.
I am now sat in the firm belief that I am not connected and the loadmaster suddenly dropped the ramp by 6 inches. I nearly had a heart attack and whist scambling back inside in a blind panic I looked around to see all my mates falling around on the floor laughing. Cocky boy gets his cumuppance !

The trip was not all bad, there was a bar there that we had to try out. To comply with the new set of rules that we have imposed upon ourelves, now we've retired. Never let it be said that we are undisciplined. ;-)

We then walked back along the "beach". This turned out to be a marathon ordeal clambering over boulders the size of cars down to soft shingle.

All together now, say Ahhhhhh.

We then found the staircase that had successfully eluded us earlier and on the way back over the hill to the MH we saw that we were parked up in view of this. So we took a photo.